Fastest Spinning Black Hole Ever Found

brian0918 writes, "NewScientist reports that researchers in Cambridge have detected a black hole spinning at nearly 1,000 times per second — the fastest ever recorded. From the article: 'McClintock's team examined a black hole in our galaxy called GRS 1915+105, which lies about 36,000 light years away. They found the innermost stable orbit around GRS 1915 is so close that the black hole must be spinning at nearly 1000 times per second. The finding supports the idea that only fast-spinning stars can collapse to create powerful explosions called long gamma-ray bursts.'" The Astrophysical Journal abstract is open but you have to be a subscriber to read the full article there.

Comments

In the spirit of Dave Barry...

[Lanoitarus]

I would like to point out that "Long gamma ray bursts" would be an excellent name for a rock band.

The moon is green cheese

[EmbeddedJanitor]

Yes, a deliberately inflammatory subject line. In The Olde Dayes, people said the moon was made of green cheese because it has the colour of green (unripened) cheese and their models were not very sophisticated. We still rely on models and the outcomes are only as good as the models themselves, and the observations they are based on.

People, what we have is a model, not an observation. As TFA says, this model is based on assumptions, though fewer assumptions in the past:"Now, astronomers have measured the spin of a black hole with a new method that requires fewer assumptions."

The black hole may indeed be spinning at 1000 revs, or is might just be that one of the model assumptions is invalid.

Re:The moon is green cheese

[Decaff]

I believe that if the people on the street actually knew how and what we use (we..as in humankind)to collect the data that describes our physical universe and existence, they wouldn't believe a single thing the "scientific" community tells them. The modeling (practically all of it...pick your discipline) is flawed to the point that the data is literally unusable in an honest way.

If you believe that, you had better not fly. GPS systems only work because of General Relativity - Newton's work isn't accurate enough. GPS is proof of Einstein's work. Instead of being 'literally unusable', the information we collect is vital for so much of current technology.

So your attempt to disprove global warming by this argument just won't work. Sorry.

Re:why spinning it good

[qwijibo]

A 747 could easily be deflected with BBs. The velocity and quantity of BBs is the most relevant factor. A billion BBs would deflect a 747 pretty easily. Or maybe just a handful of BBs at 2/3 the speed of light.

Re:Multi-Dimensional Universe

[Jerf]

Uh, "Informative" my ass. A selection of other "technology" articles from India Daily, obtained simply by clicking on the "technology" tab on their page:

Gravity wave connectors through black hole singularities connect integrated consciousness from the chilled universe: Mathematically it is clear now that gravity waves can easily pass through the points of singularities in the black holes. These connect the integrated consciousness and provide guidance from the chilled universe below the Hyperspace.

We are part of a super advanced Type IV extraterrestrial civilization- projection of Zero Point Energy Module encapsulated as life on 3-D vector space with increasing span: After attaining perfection or 'Error Vector zero', we move on to higher dimension and continue the process till we cross into the chilled universe.

The world of advanced extraterrestrial civilizations - life-surrounding singularities: The time and space dimensions (infinite in numbers) can be accessed individually, manipulated and new configurations can be created.

India Times articles often show on Fark; I'll leave it to you to guess why.

Moderators: Big words != informative.

Re:Orbiting at no more than 30 miles from the cent

[stormy_petral]

It's got to be on the verge of exploding. I wonder what effect the explosion will have here on Earth at 38,000 light years away?

Maybe it has already exploded. Just wait 38,000 years to find out.

It may have exploded 37,999.99726 years ago, in which case we'll know tomorrow.

Re:Black holes Vs. Planets

[twifosp]

If there was a planet with a gravitational pull equivalent to a Black Hole, I bet they'd find it pretty quick.

Erm, if there was a planet with a gravitational pull equivalent to a black hole, it would for all intents and purposes be a black hole. A hunk of matter with enough mass to equal the gravitational pull of a black hole would also not emit light. It would also have to be incredibly spread out. It would also have enough mass to start fusion and would either be a gas giant or would collapse and form a star, and then collapse more as the fusion/fission process wouldn't be enough to keep it expanded and would become a black hole anyway, sigularity and all.

So yea... it would be easy to find by using gravity inferences, like how they find black holes anyway, but it would still not emit light. Thank you, Captain Semantic